Disillusionment
by Asj Johnson
Summary: It wasn't supposed to be like this.—He wasn't supposed to be a dead boy. (When Paulina finds an injured Danny Phantom, she has a realization.)


Just a little ficlet inspired (vaguely) by ghostanimal's fic "Phantom Hitchhiker". There might be a slightly graphic bit, so I'll up the rating, just in case.

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**Disillusionment**

It was supposed to be like one of those teen superhero cartoons, where the hero was this hunk of a guy that saved the town from evil, and had this pretty, strong, popular girl as a love interest that would eventually get married to him near the end of the series.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

He wasn't supposed to be a dead boy.

Paulina had been excited when she first saw him—lying on the ground, his otherworldly glow reflecting off the grass and bushes around him. She had grinned and waved, practically skipping toward him. "Ghost Boy!" she called. She wasn't upset that he hadn't waved back or anything. He was always a bit standoffish. Shy, really.

She stopped before him, his body sprawled out at her feet. It was then that she began to feel something _wrong_.

She never noticed before. She always saw him from a distance, or in motion, or she was only close to him for a few seconds—and only _then _while he was saving her from something. Never had he been so still and close.

It was little things at first. He wasn't breathing. Why would he? He was a ghost. His skin was slightly gray and translucent. Barely noticeable. Ghosts were supposed to be like that, right? But it was still a bit creepy. Bright green gunk was smeared across his chest and along the ground. Everyone's seen that goo stuff, though. It was just something that ghosts _did_. But this time, it looked so much like blood. Bright green blood, marring the torso of her ghost boy, his chest gouged open in a way she instinctively knew shouldn't be survivable.

He wasn't supposed to make her feel revulsion, like that horrible dead squirrel had, which had been lying on the side of the street near her house. There had been this odd not-quite-smell, and its fur was falling out, dried blood matting what was left, and brown-red smearing across the asphalt where it had slid. It was so horrible, and she couldn't get the image out of her head, even after getting her papa to order someone to get rid of it, and then making him use the garden hose to wash the blood off the street for her. She avoided looking at that spot for a week. And tried not to think of it since.

The ghost boy looked like the squirrel. _Wrong_. _Dead_. _Unnatural_.

She stared down at his body, her legs too numb for her to leave. She pulled her hands tightly to her chest, as though it would keep them from getting contaminated. She knew it was a silly gesture, but couldn't help it.

His body twitched, and she jumped. He moaned and cracked open his eyes. They looked more like glowing glass marbles than eyes. Like those ghastly hunting trophies. It felt so horrifyingly wrong. He was dead. He shouldn't be moving.

"Paulina?" he asked groggily.

He said her name. It felt wrong.

"Paulina, what's wrong?"

Her vision blurred with tears, and she realized that she wasn't beginning to cry, but that she was beginning to cry _harder_.

The ghost boy struggled to his feet and held his hands out to her. "Paulina, it's okay."

She flinched away. She didn't want him to touch her. "You're dead," she choked out.

His hands dropped to his sides. He frowned, wearing a bewildered and hurt expression at her rejection. He glanced down, and his eyes widened at seeing the slash on his chest. "Oh!" He looked up at her, with unnerving, unnatural glowing eyes, and smiled. "I'm okay. It's only a scratch; it'll be gone by tomorrow."

Those words didn't reassure her. Only made the sensation of _wrongness _worse. Normal people couldn't heal from something like that. Normal people wouldn't be 'good as new' within a day. It was unnatural. Wrong.

"No," she whined, shaking her head from side to side. It was all wrong. Wrong. "You're _dead_, Ghost Boy." She backed up a step.

His expression dropped. "Wait. Paulina, don't be afraid. Whatever you're thinking about right now, I'm sure—"

"No!" she said. Tears completely obscured her vision and she raised her hands as she cried in earnest, sobbing for the loss of _her_ ghost boy, the shattered ideal that was gone forever. "You're _dead_! A ghost of a dead boy!"

"O-oh," he said.

She opened her eyes to look at him through her fingers. With his glowing body softened through tears, she could almost see him as she once had: the glowing superhero who was too magical to truly be someone real. "I _loved _you. I-I thought we could be together. But now... Now it's impossible, because you're dead. You're not even _human_, Ghost Boy. It's _horrible_. I feel so nauseous." She covered her eyes as the tears came again.

"Oh, wow. This is really bothering you, isn't it?" He sighed. "Look, Paulina... It's okay. Er, I shouldn't be telling you this, but... I'm not _really _dead. You see... I'm kind'a a—"

She shook her head, and stepped back again. "No; you're dead, Ghost Boy. You're just some ghost haunting the town. You'll _always _be dead." She turned away from him, and ran. For once, running _from_ him instead of toward him.

...It was supposed to be like one of those teen superhero cartoons.

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Note:

Woo. First Danny Phantom fic I've published. ...And I just got the idea for this one this morning (...I hope I didn't forget something important from the series). Hm. I'd thought one of my Dan ideas would be the first to be uploaded. Well, maybe my "Gears" fic will be next. It's about Clockwork releasing Dan and talking him into doing something stupid.


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